Abstract:
Background: Social support (SS) enhances Quality of Life (QoL) of older people.
Understanding of the variations of SS available for and perceived by institutionalized and non institutionalized older people in Sri Lanka is important in promoting health of elderly
population.
Objectives: To describe and compare relationships of QoL and SS between institutionalized
and non-institutionalized older adults in Galle, Sri Lanka.
Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted using a conveniently selected
sample of 70 institutionalized and 70 non-institutionalized older people in Galle. Validated
scales of WHOQOL–BREF and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)
were used to assess QoL and SS of the target groups respectively. Higher scores in MSPSS
indicated higher SS.
Results: The mean value of the total QoL scores was higher in non-institutionalized older
people compared to that of others (66.4±21.3 vs 59.3±14.4, p<0.05). The mean value of the total
MSPSS score was also higher in non-institutionalized compared to that of institutionalized older
people (5.3±0.9 vs 3.9±1.1, p<0.05). The mean scores of family support (23.1±3.8 vs 12.8±7.3,
p<0.05), support from the friends (19.1±5.1 vs 18.4±4.3, p<0.05) and support from significant
others (22.2±4.7 vs 4.0±1.8, p<0.05) were higher in non-institutionalized compared to that of
institutionalized older people. There was a positive correlation between MSPSS scores and total
QoL scores in the non-institutionalized older people (r=0.34, p<0.01), but no such correlation
was found between MSPSS scores and total QoL scores in the institutionalized older people
(r=0.054, p=0.655).
Conclusions: The QoL of the non-institutionalized older people is better than that of
institutionalized older people. One possible reason for this observation is that the SS perceived
by non-institutionalized older people is higher than that of institutionalized older people. Social
support systems available for institutionalized older people should be strengthened to improve
their QoL.